How Texas_Ace Swapped a VG30ET to a VG33ET! Complete Writeup

yeah the Turbo 3000 engine plate really throws them off :-D

I like when a conversation goes like this:

"so this isn't the stock engine is it? it's all painted"

and i say "no… it's a little different?"

"what's different… where's it from"

*** look around for nissan quest or mercury villager ***

"that thing" ** pointing finger **

"A MINIVAN?! SHUT UP"

so, to you guys that have actually done the swap, im planning on doing this very soon (my method of choice will be leaving the bottom end intact, in case you are wondering), what are your boost/hp numbers? i need to know how good these pistons will hold up to boost. from a little bit of research i did seems forged pistons are VERY pricey for this application.

Well my car is now sold and all it ever saw was the stock turbo but i ran up to 12psi on that and it never had an issue.

yeah, this is old, but i just read it. rock on.
alot of thing people complain about boggles my mind.
figure out what you need to do to make something work and make it work.

just read the full thread, careless, i pmed you.
i have a 89 z31 with multiribbed belt pulleys on all my accessories, if i put my z31 heADS on the vg33 i need to port match a galley or two, get a z32 crank pulley, and leave the bottom end alone, i should be okay. ill need vg33 cam gears also. the oil pump and oil filter location should be fine on an na from a quest right? if not i have a VG33 oil pump from a 2000 Xterra. lol which should work.

reason for me swapping out the bottom end? the crank snout is no good on my z31 engine. therefore i need a new crank which i have, from a 89 pathfinder engine, but to swap cranks from 2 21 year old engines, (pathfinder 217k, z31 147k) just doesnt make sense to me, especially when i can bolt in .3 more displacement. (about 20 more horses or so) with less miles.

the only other question i have in mind is about the crank pulleys and harmonic balancers. the stock z31 crank pulley/harmonic balancer is one unit, and what is the VG33/ Z32 crank pulley like.?
are there any VG33 multiribbed crank pulleys? which one works best? i want all this to work without modding the oil pan or the brackets at all. so if there is a way i would like to know of it. i think maybe my old pathfinder pickup tube maybe used to combine the two other engines?
thanks for the great thread and both parties staying polite while making there arguments. its nice for a change.

so if there is anything i am missing please inform me asap as i will be doing this asap.

z31 top end
VG33 bottom end
z32 crank pulley with z31 multiribbed accessories, should make it a bolt on affair from what i've gathered so far.
minus the oil pickup and pan mod, which i hope to find a bolt on solution for.
anyways, i hope there is hope for me and my quest to do this project under 500 bucks.

Somone else would have to comment on using the VG33 crank in this swap, i find that a lot of extra work unless somone found a plug and play way to do it.

Far as the heads go, you don't need to swap heads, just the cams from the VG30 to the VG33 so you get a better top end. LOT easier then swapping the whole heads.

Then you need all the timing belt side to be from the same engine, aka all either VG30 or VG33.

Crank pulley i have no clue, i have not been around much since selling my car.

i think i got it pretty much all figured out, it will be done by next week.

Do the parts from the vg30e mount in the same way as a vg30et’s parts would? Is there even a difference?